Google has surprised no one by unveiling the Google-branded and Google-sold Nexus One phone at a press event in Mountain View.
Manufactured by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC, the phone will be sold through an online store operated by Google at www.google.com/phone. The phone can be purchased unlocked for $529 or in tandem with …

le sigh

Why is everyone acting so indignant just because it's Google branded? It's a hell of a nice phone, and even nicer for the price point (which is admittedly high, but not nearly as high as anything that can reasonably compete with it).

Marketing bluster is what it is, but this phone is pretty much exactly what it claims to be. Powerful, easy to use and fully featured. Nice camera, nice processor, ability to do whatever you need. Looks to be well on top of the pile.

Two points for the "innovation" crowd:

1) Why all the complaints just because it doesn't do something stupid like double as an XBox 360 and 47" plasma TV, or maybe it should be a Cisco router too? :/ It already does more than a rational person wants from a phone, all that's left is to polish it right, which Google/HTC seem to have done.

2) Most of you seem to be comparing it negatively to the iPhone on this innovation point. Maybe if you had been aware of the smartphone market before Steve Jobs beamed the orders to buy an iPhone into your brain, you'd realize that the iPhone is nothing more than a derivative product itself. HTC has been making things just like the iPhone since 2003, Nokia made the 7710 around that same time, Samsung made the i700, Motorola A1000 and so on. Heck, right as the iPhone was released LG was releasing the Prada and Viewty, which were essentially the iPhone but one far more stylish and the other with far superior hardware.

The irony of hating on anyone who likes this phone as a mindless Google fanboy while touting your iPhone as some sort of revolutionary (you know, like the guy on your t-shirt) is hopefully not lost.

Unimpressed

Doesn't seem to do anything particularly special as far as I can see. The most interesting feature is with the fact that Google is selling it directly.

Everything on there has been seen before... except the processor in a phone (i think).

For them to put it into a brand new "superphone" category is just them blowing their own trumpet to try and create some excitement among people who dont know any better. You know, the sort who would look a choice between phone, smartphone and superphone and assume the latter is the better option because it must be "more " somehow.

Apparently the AMOLED display has the common problem of making reds and oranges look a lot bolder than they should be, which isnt such a problem as the inability to see anything on the screen in bright, or even moderate sunlight. Not ideal when you have to use a virtual keypad to perform even the most basic task such as dialing a number.

I think the problem with this is that it was never going to live up to the hype. It's a good phone, but it's certainly not a super phone. Maybe we're all just more immune to the sort of marketing that the likes of Apple et al throw at us... maybe pre 2007 we'd have all fallen for the hype hook line and sinker.

For me, this is just another phone with a huge touch screen. Nothing different enough to make it stand out. Engadget has shots of it side by side with a couple of rivals and it really would be almost impossible to tell the difference from 20 feet away.

Hell... 12 months ago my brother in law even asked me from across the room if my samsung touch screen was an iPhone. And almost everyone where i worked until a few months ago thought that iPhone was a generic term to describe touch screen phones.

Uh-oh!

"the company's main aim is to...feed its online advertising business."

It's around about here that I stopped reading. Say what you like about Winmo (I have an HTC HD2), at least it's an OS from a company that makes its money from selling OSes. Having an OS designed by an advert seller is bound to lead to your phone being turned into a screamy-shouty-handheld-shopping-mall rather than a functional 'puter/phone. Just you wait and see. Every time you use the Contacts app to find a mate, you'll be presented with an ad for Dateline.

Microsoft / Apple / Google

In spite of their fondness for locking you in (and competitors out) of their platform / toolset Microsoft have never been afraid to offer their legion developers a compiler and development tools.

Encouraging developers to create software for their OS helped them gain unprecendented market share on desktops.

Sure Apple would have you believe the mass market want a commodity device that "just works" but thats no excuse for their authoritarian control of what a power user might wish to install / run on their phone.

And as you point out i'd remain sceptical of a mountain view offering until I fully understood their revenue model. Are they selling you a phone/mobile computing device or are they providing a platform from which to pester you with annoying ads?

One way it could kill the iPhone

Most comments seem to be focussing on the hardware. Loads of predictable "so what, it's just an iPhone copy" stuff.

The crucial point here will be the software. If Google allow 3rd party apps to be loaded, then Apple are in serious trouble. Apple's increasingly unpopular draconian closed shop business model is their weakness (and don't give me all the "it ensures QA" bollocks arguments either - it's all about total control with Apple and it will only get worse with their upcoming silly money tablet).

3rd party apps

I know half a dozen people with an iPhone. Only one of them even knew you could unlock it to enable 3rd party apps. The others didnt know about it and are perfectly happy with the range of apps that they can get for free or a small fee from the app store. The one guy who did consider jailbreaking to open up his options changed his mind when he heard about the security issues that came about recently with jailbroken phones.

Outside the world of technology lovers many people just don't care about stuff like that. An iPhone will be bought because it's pretty and does some fun stuff to keep you entertained, and when you get bored of one app, there are plenty more to choose from.

Hmm.

"fun stuff to keep you entertained, and when you get bored of one app, there are plenty more to choose from."

Well, I guess that pretty much sums it up. The days of trivial fart apps will soon be over. But where are the "serious" iPhone apps? A very small minority (although I'm sure we'll now see a list lovingly trawled from the thousands of crap ones to try to prove me wrong). However, the Wired's top 5 iPhone apps of 2009 listed 3 games, a "measure if you're a moron" type app and some other trivial app I can't even remember. Is that the best on offer for a whole year?

Plus the Apple rejection rate is rocketing and becoming increasingly mysterious. Even die hard fanboys are starting to complain.

Android and MS platforms are far more accessible for app development. Plus you won't have to buy them off a single authoritarian vendor who decides what they will allow you to run.

yes... but

As popularity increases and everyone who ever looked at HTML4.0 and thought about writing a website for their friends uncle the plumber starts trying to write iPhone apps, of course there are going to be a lot more rejections.

My employer has 5000+ employees. About 800 carrying a standard issue blackberry. They use them to receive emails while they are out of the office, and either sent a very brief reply if necessary, or follow up with a telephone call as its quicker for a long discussion. If they were issued with an iPhone i dont see how that would make them any less productive... except making it more difficult to type out their quick reply while driving since they'd have to look at the phone rather than feel the keys.

Given the situation at airports in Britain over the last few days, i think i'd quite like the opportunity to download one mildly entertaining bit of fun after another to pass the time if i were stuck ... rather than stare blankly at the same spreadsheet that Steve in marketing sent over yesterday.

Delayed in Tunisia in 2003 for 9 hours i played Snake on my nokia. For about 7 hours. I bet there's an app for that too now.

And surely you dont believe that somehow the open nature of the Android apps publication will ensure a fart free zone? Its even more likely that you will see apps that are there only to serve the person on the train who thinks it funny to belch the national anthem to his mate over the phone. I bet he'll even find a way to create his own Belch-o-meter app, and with no Jobsian overlord to stop him, eventually it will work its way into a Nexus One near you.

Get a grip, Neill!

"Erm, I think you'll find they do. Business users, for one" The one *big* feature that businesses want? Exchange support. iPhone has it. Blackberry has it. Obviously, Windows Mobile has it. Android doesn't - although I believe there are a few "apps for that", but there is nothing like out-of-the-box first party support for something so business critical, is there?

No-one ever said that all the apps on the App Store are all good, someone's gold is another man's garbage, but there are some real gems on there. As for business app, there are a few, but like most sensible people, I don't see these devices as laptop replacements. They are primarily comm's devices - email, phone, S/MMS and voicemail. Some do each better than others, but it's marginal and really down to preference. It's nice to see competition for the iPhone platform, but as yet nothing has been released that is as paradigm shifting. Will Nexus One 'kill' (commentards, bloggers and jounalists, can we stop with the "x-killer" or "y-killer" monickers please? It's hackneyed) iPhone? Emphatically no! Will it have an effect on the iPhone's markets share? Maybe, we'll see - Android based devices haven't had much impact on the Smartphone market yet and coining a new term "super-smart" won't change that!

I don't get this hatred of "fun" and "pretty" that you serious business nerds have. Have you *seen* the graphics and quality of gameplay on the iPhone? No-one, not even Apple, expected that! Just because ONE blogzine had games in it's top five apps is a meaningless measure that you picked up on to justify your personal prejudices.

"Plus the Apple rejection rate is rocketing and becoming increasingly mysterious. Even die hard fanboys are starting to complain." In much the same way that malware is increasing on the Mac platform? Bollocks mate. Pure conjecture on your part. Reporting of rejections is growing because it generates a 'news' story on an inevitable slow day.

The thing that strikes me is that you are one of the typical nerds that has a pathological hatred of Apple for no real reason (smug 'fanboys' is the normal pathetic reason, yours?). They make good products that recently people have wanted to buy. What one can do with a product ('trivial fart apps' included), how good a product looks and how simple a product is to use play a big part in how well the product sells. So does something that marketers, product engineers and designers call the x-factor. It's an indescribable and unquantifiable quality that any given product has and like it or not, Apple seem to have found a rich vein of it. People want their products. Google, Sony, Microsoft et al are fighting what is essentially good design and lots of luck! Is it running out? We'll see, sales figures suggest not. iPhone is by no means perfect. There are some limitations that are frustrating, and some that are just stupid! By and large though, it's about the best device of this type that I've ever owned and I've had a few.

Ultimately, there is enough room for all the platforms, which will also promote a healthy and innovative market place. See what happened post 1995 with desktop computing of the Internet with Microsoft's near total domination. Stagnation...

Missed the point

I never suggested that Android will not also get thousands of crappy apps as well, but at least nobody is dictating what you can and can't install on your shiny and very expensive device. That is my primary point.

Apple rejections are not going up due to the number of apps being written - we've already seen the peak. They are increasingly rejecting applications that they obviously feel compete with their own existing or future ones or offer freedom from Apple's grip on content.

Why shouldn't I be able to play my extensive Ogg audio collection on my iPhone or Touch? Why shouldn't I be able to read my extensive collection of .lit, ePub, LRF, MOBI format eBooks as well? The other platforms have 3rd party (and mostly free) apps that allow me to do this. Apple do not and won't allow it. I'm told by fanboys to go and convert all my content. Why the hell should I have to spend hundreds of hours doing that? They are well established codecs and standards, it's just Apple chooses not to support them to maintain their grip over you.

Blimey

Hi Mr. Anonymous Coward. Get a grip yourself. Why so much anger? I am not an Apple hating nerd, as you so politely label me. I am, however, wary of any platform/manufacturer/technology that restricts your choice and ties you in.

Have you actually read Apple's App Store developer terms and conditions? Do you want a single company to own your entire life and dictate what you can and cannot put on your 42% marked up device? If so, then fine and good luck to you.

A lot of conjecture going on from you as well. As to Wired, I merely selected it as an example as it is well known that it is a very pro Mac publication. I think their reporting is pretty solid actually.

There is indeed a place for multiple platforms and it's pretty obvious that I'm hoping this will continue. Some of the comments here though seem to encourage failure of this notion.

Apple has now got domination in key sectors and is aiming to expand on that. Stagnation looming again perhaps? When Microsoft do it they get roundly slated, but Apple get vigorously defended. Just why is that?

this could go on forever...

I don't know whether you have changed my mind, or i just can't be bothered to argue, or driving to work with it being -14 degrees this morning has just made me go numb (windscreen refreezing with heaters/blowers on full power while driving = nice!).

I'm not going to argue further. You, Neill Mitchell are free to go about your day.

ps. Incidentally, i am in the market for a smartphone in a couple of months, what would you suggest.

Except...

@Googlephone or Applephone, lesser of two evils?

I don't trust Apple but Google are already far worse even now and they are getting ever worse year by year.

Google marketing Doublespeak about "organizing the world's data", sounds at first oh so helpful, yet their marketing Doublespeak conveniently omits so much, like the fact "data" is knowledge and Google "organizing" also means Google hooking their vast server side spyware system into the world's knowledge, turning it into Google knowledge, therefore their Doublespeak really means seeing and so spying on the world's knowledge. Which is wonderful when we add in the age old concept that "Knowledge Is Power", so what does that really make Google.

So hell can freeze over before I ever trust such a profoundly power hungry corporation, so they can keep their phones, I won't ever touch them or trust them.

I think its becoming clear its looking a lot safer in the long run to stay off the Google radar as much as possible to avoid the long term implications (Google two faced marketing tries to make them sound ever so helpful and friendly, with their Google Search, Google Maps, Google Books, Google this, Google that, Google whatever, but lets not forget they also do, Google manipulative Ad Broker, Google state employed spy and Google censorship.

Google are growing too powerful and somebody needs to stop them but no one will. Google must look like a source of pure power to power hungry politicians so eager to "work with" Google so no one in power is really going to stop Google growing ever more powerful. I suspect Hitler could never have imagined the ever growing power of Google, but future wannabe Hitlers even right now, are already circling the ever more vast information honey pot, that is Google. So if you want to record you life onto Google servers, ready to be exploited ever more in the future, then in the long term, good luck. I don't think there's much we can do to stop the Google Information Black Hole Singularity because so many in power want the power of Google, so sadly its looking safer and wiser to stand back while the Google Sheeple become the Google Pawns who get ever more violated by the growing Google Police State into eventually becoming the first of the Google Police State Victims who suffer as a warning to us all.

Sadly I'm reminded of an episode of an old 1980s scifi series I've just seen again, where they were talking about the slow almost unseen slide into state control, and then one of the characters said something that struck me how disturbingly true it was. He said, "and then one day you wake up, and find you are living in a fascist state."